Drought effects on upcoming sugaring season

[madmapler]

Just wondering if some of the more experienced sugarmakers know anything about the how the drought conditions we're experiencing can/will affect the upcoming season?

[markcasper]

Just wondering if some of the more experienced sugarmakers know anything about the how the drought conditions we're experiencing can/will affect the upcoming season?
Generally the sugar content is quite a bit higher following a drought year, usually one summer or fall of dry does not harm the trees. If its a multi year thing, then its a different story.

[heus]

Last summer in ne Ohio we had lots of rain and very little sun and the sugar conent ended up being terrible. Lots of sun with little rain this year. I think we will have higher sugar content, but I see stress on the trees like branch dieback from this near-drought.

[BreezyHill]

We have been dry summers for a few seasons now and it seems to have little affect. This season is drier than last as the pond is below where it was mid August.
But on the other hand the swamp is still damp and the sugar bush looks fine from the road. If trees are rooted deep enough they are still in good water content; but if you are on shallow soil structure then they are likely pretty dry.

Corn will store energy from sunny days and jump when they get a shot of rain. I would think that the trees have the same ability and are storing up all this sunshine in sugar and the rain we get this fall will make for good sap flows next season.

Our poorest years seemed to be when it was dry and cloudy during sugar season...if the roots are dry then the sap is slow to flow was an old timers comment in our area.

I recall him showing me how the snow around the maple would melt on a warm day and it seemed to run right into the bucket. But on a no snow season flows were slow at best.

[Ski Bum]

I am seeing a few sugar maples on my road that have some leaves changing color. Little snow last winter and -6 or 7"s of rain this year can't be good for the trees. Like every year, we will just have to see what happens.

[220 maple]

2002 Summer was a lot like this one, drought finally broke in October, Had the big Valentine's Weekend Snow Storm Feb. 2003, over three feet of snow off a noreaster. Only took 33 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup, hoping for a repeat performance in 2017

Mark 220 Maple

[Michael Greer]

I'm beginning to see trees losing leaves near the tops...green leaves that have dried and died. I can't imagine that this drought is good for anything but tomatoes.

[maple flats]

Water the garden, but the trees are in good shape as long as the roots can get moisture from 3'+ down. We've had lots of sun so the sugar will be higher. All we need then is good fall rains and decent snow this winter followed by a spring of many freeze thaw cycles.

[Michael Greer]

We dug a hole yesterday here in Potsdam. It was five feet before we found any water at all. One of the things that is severely impacted by this drought are the very small saplings in the woods...about half of them have perished this summer as their roots don't yet go deep enough to keep in contact with groundwater. I had a Butternut blow over last week, and the stump came out of the ground without any soil attached at all...just dust.

[maple flats]

Try to dig a hole just 3' deep and look at it a day later. While it will not show up right away, it will slowly seep in overnight, (at least it does for me). Maybe you are drier than I am here.

[MaxJ]

The drought is far from over here, got 10-20 10" maples that are brown and dropping leaves. Large sections of under brush has died off on the high areas of the property. Dug down to put in footing for an addition 10 feet down and totally dry. The large maples still looking good even though it has rained 4"+over the past few weeks the ground seems so dry still under the big trees. Maybe we could get a heavy winters snow to restore the parched landscape. Dryest recorded year for the area going back to the 1880's.

[heus]

Some of my mature maples are looking pretty stressed this summer. Lots of branch dieback.

[Michael Greer]

Now that the numbers are in, lets revive this thread. Here in Potsdam, the 2016 drought was pretty severe. I suspected that the trees might be stressed, so I tapped lightly...one less bucket on every tree than last year. I got access to more trees, then I bought more buckets and taps and tapped even more trees. Here's what the season-end numbers look like: Last year, 357 taps gave 4013 gallons of sap, and yielded 122.5 gallons of syrup. This year, 440 taps gave 4261 gallons of sap, and yielded 125 gallons of syrup. I think that's 23% more taps for the same yield, or, going the other way, 16% less sap per tap.
I've read that it can take two good seasons of rain to get the trees back to where they were. It will be interesting to see what next year looks like. Anyone else have any data to share?

[ennismaple]

I don't have any data as we're still boiling but I do have some observations. Our drought last summer was the worst anyone can remember. Our lake is dam controlled and it was down close to 2 feet from the top of the logs by late October. It has since returned to normal winter/spring levels.

For this year's maple season - our gallons of sap per tap is definitely down (final numbers TBD) but our sugar content is way up. Our average for the past 8 seasons is barely over 2.0% sugar. We're probably close to 2.5% this season - which will come down as we get to the final days but definitely much higher. My theory is the drought (and more sunshine hours) caused the trees to store more starch in reserve.

[lew]

Ennis, I am blaming the drought for the exact opposite. Our average sugar content is way down. Haven't figured exact numbers yet, but I'm sure that we will be .3 to.5 lower than normal. I wonder who is right. Doesn't really matter, but would be nice to know.

[madmapler]

I've been hearing a lot about low sugar this year. My sugar was up a few points more than average. We are in a deep valley with steep hills. In some places there is only room for the river and the road. Other areas are barely wide enough for dairy farming. We get good sun but it doesn't last as long as it does in other locations before it goes behind the hill. My sugar is typically around 2% at best. I'm thinking the extra sun boosted things for me where others suffered. I don't know what else it could have been.

[Urban Sugarmaker]

This talks about low sugar and its relationship to drought http://stlawrence.cce.cornell.edu/horticulture-natural-resources/thirsty-maples

[madmapler]

This talks about low sugar and its relationship to drought http://stlawrence.cce.cornell.edu/horticulture-natural-resources/thirsty-maples

Great article. Thanks for posting.

[ennismaple]

Ennis, I am blaming the drought for the exact opposite. Our average sugar content is way down. Haven't figured exact numbers yet, but I'm sure that we will be .3 to.5 lower than normal. I wonder who is right. Doesn't really matter, but would be nice to know.

I could be wrong - it's happened before and it will happen again! We've never had sugar content as high as its been this year and I've been trying to find a reason.

[GeneralStark]

There are so many site specific factors that will affect a tree's access to water in a drought year. Soils types, and groundwater access are so variable. And, while it was a dry year, some areas scored precip. from thunderstorms and other localized systems that likely impacted the variation we are seeing regionally for sap sugar content.

It would be interesting to look at actual precip. levels and soil/groundwater factors in different areas as I suspect we would see some patterns. Sites with good springs/seeps may do well on a dry /sunny year while ledgy upland sites likely suffer.

[Michael Greer]

Tonight my little woods has 6" of standing water in it and every sump pump in the neighborhood is working over time. My band director used to say "Right notes at the wrong time are wrong notes." April showers won't necessarily grow corn in July.

[GeneralStark]

No but they will bring may flowers...:)

[Sunday Rock Maple]

Which bring Pilgrims.......

[heus]

We had the lowest sugar content ever (8 seasons).

[maple flats]

I also had my lowest ever, I started back in 2003.